by George Livadas

Eighty-four percent of college students today do not believe that Western culture is superior to Arab culture according to a newly released poll funded by Americans for Victory Over Terrorism (a project by Empower.org) and former Secretary of Education William Bennett.

Considered by Empower America to be “the single most extensive survey of college students’ attitudes about terrorism, the Middle East and the Bush administration this year,” the poll reveals that high percentages of college students quite simply lack any pride in their country.

According to the poll, 70 percent of American college students would not serve in the armed forces if sent abroad, while 48 percent openly declared that they would evade a draft.

With 31 percent of public schools specifically prohibiting the presence of recruiters on campus and nearly 25 percent of high schools refusing to even release student directory information to recruiters (from a July, 2001 Defense Department report), such attitudes from college students are hardly unexpected.

While college students enjoy and benefit from the many freedoms for which past American generations fought, many selfishly refuse to be responsible for protecting these freedoms. Seventy-nine percent of college students believe that the U.S. “has the right to overthrow” Hussein. Although college students support Hussein’s overthrow, most refuse to assist, as 70 percent had said that they would not serve overseas. Additionally, 58 percent of those saying that they would evade a draft said that they support Saddam’s overthrow.

Critics have charged that this high percentage of students unwilling to serve and admitting that they would evade a draft can be attributed to the inherent moral confusion of college students today-also revealed in AVOT’s poll. Seventy-one percent of college students disagreed with the statement, “the values of the U.S. are superior to the values of other nations.” Only 25 percent of college students agreed with the statement.

College students, notorious for protesting alleged U.S. oppression against minorities and various victim-groups, refuse to acknowledge U.S. efforts and strides in leading the world in the constant bolstering of civil rights and equality under the law.

According to the poll, 84 percent of college students do not believe that Western culture is superior to Arab culture. Astonishingly, 43 percent of students said that they “strongly disagree” that Western culture is superior to Arab culture, while a mere 3 percent said that they “strongly agree.”

The widespread use of torture and cruel forms of public execution (sometimes by stoning or beheading) as a means of punishment in the Islamic world make the results of this poll all the more shocking. Apparently college students are unaware of the fact that many Islamic nations jail and execute homosexuals (the Taliban did so by pushing stone walls on them), publicly flog traffic violators, amputate the limbs of thieves (often without trial), ban the Star of David and the cross, and occasionally sentence women to be gang-raped for offenses not even considered to be criminal in the U.S.

Rather than holding terrorists solely responsible for their actions on September 11, college students partially blamed the U.S. government for the attacks, as 57 percent of college students stated that United States policies are “at least somewhat responsible for the September 11th terrorist attacks.”

According to a majority of college students, boosting our nation’s level of multiculturalism is a key solution in preventing further terrorist attacks. Only 33 percent of college students claimed that “investing in strong military and defense capabilities at home and abroad” would be more effective in fighting terror than “developing a better understanding of the values and history of other cultures and nations that dislike us.” A full 60 percent believed the latter to be the superior method in preventing terror.

Would developing a better understanding of the values of the Nazi culture have proved to be a more efficient and useful method in combating Hitler during World War II?

While there is no justifiable excuse for the results of the poll, there could be a simple explanation for the apparent moral confusion of college students-they do not follow current events closely or carefully enough to have a reasonable perception of the world. The poll revealed that less than half of college students are capable of correctly naming Colin Powell as Secretary of State, less than one-third can name Donald Rumsfeld as Secretary of Defense, and only one-fifth can name Condoleeza Rice as the National Security Advisor.

With a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent, the poll is a relatively accurate measure of the prevalent attitudes of college students today.

The results of the poll are undoubtedly shocking and appalling. Despite the War on Terror and the events of September 11, college students remain adamant in refusing to judge anyone or anything foreign based upon their actions. The once educational and beneficial idea of multiculturalism has been taken to such extreme levels that college students, who formerly studied different cultures to gain a better perspective of their own values and culture, now embrace and praise all societies but their own.